Different Types of Therapy Explained (CBT, DBT, EMDR, and More)

When seeking support for mental health, many people feel overwhelmed by the number of therapy options. What’s the difference between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), EMDR, or psychodynamic approaches? In this post, we’ll help people understand common types of therapy, how they work, and when they might be used — especially for anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), borderline personality disorder (BPD), and other mental health conditions.

The Role of Therapy: A Broad View

At its heart, talk therapy (also called psychotherapy) is a process where a therapist and client spend time exploring thoughts and feelings, behavior patterns, and life experiences. Therapy focuses on helping individuals build coping skills, replace negative patterns, and improve relationships and well-being.

Therapists may approach problems from different angles, depending on the person’s needs and the mental health conditions involved. Below are several of the most frequently used methods.

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) / “Based Therapy”

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most researched and widely practiced therapies. It is a therapy focuses on examining how thoughts and feelings influence emotions and behaviors. The goal is to identify and challenge negative thoughts and replace them with more balanced, realistic ones, thereby reducing distress and improving functioning.

In CBT, you and your therapist might track automatic thoughts (the immediate, often negative ideas that pop into your mind), test them against evidence, and then practice forming more helpful thoughts. You’ll also work on behavioral strategies — like gradual exposure or activity scheduling — to confront fears or build confidence.

For anxiety disorders or OCD, CBT is often a first-line approach. It can help the person gradually face fears rather than avoid them and learn to tolerate uncertainty. CBT is considered a structured, typically shorter-term therapy (e.g. 12–20 sessions), though it can be adapted for longer work.

2. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) evolved from CBT but adds extra emphasis on emotional regulation, mindfulness, and accepting intense emotions. It was originally developed for borderline personality disorder (BPD), but now helps many clients who struggle with emotional instability, self-harm, or interpersonal conflict.

Key features include skills training in mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT focuses on dialectics — holding two seemingly opposing truths, such as accepting yourself as you are while also striving to change.

DBT is especially useful when clients feel overwhelmed by emotional swings or recurring crises. It complements CBT by providing more space to accept difficult emotions while still encouraging growth.

3. Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy is less structured than CBT or DBT. Rooted in psychoanalytic theory, it emphasizes exploring unconscious processes, early life experiences, and relational patterns.

The therapy helps the client become aware of deeper internal conflicts, repetitive relationship dynamics, or unconscious drivers that influence current emotional life. The therapist helps the client bring hidden feelings, defenses, and relational patterns into awareness, so they can be understood and shifted.

While talk therapy has an active component in CBT, psychodynamic therapy may spend more time reflecting, interpreting, and exploring narratives and themes. It can be beneficial when people notice long-standing patterns (in relationships, emotions, or self-worth) that don’t fully resolve with skills work alone.

4. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapy specifically designed for trauma and stress-related disorders, but it’s also applied to other difficulties.

EMDR helps reprocess traumatic memories so they lose their emotional charge and no longer trigger intense distress. The client recalls a troubling memory while engaging in bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements, taps, or sounds). The goal is to integrate the memory in a healthier way, allowing emotions and bodily sensations tied to the memory to shift.

Although EMDR is not primarily about replacing negative thoughts in the typical CBT sense, it often helps reduce anxiety, shame, guilt, or hypervigilance tied to past events. Many clinicians combine EMDR with CBT or other methods in a holistic treatment plan.

5. Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is a time-limited, structured therapy that addresses problems in interpersonal relationships and social roles. While not as broadly known as CBT or DBT, IPT is effective for depression, eating disorders, and sometimes anxiety.

IPT posits that difficulties in relationships — such as grief, role transitions, or conflicts — contribute to emotional distress. The therapist and client spend time mapping significant relationships, identifying patterns, and working on improved communication and role negotiation. For many people, improving close relationships helps relieve symptoms by reducing isolation, miscommunication, or unresolved conflict.

When Might One Therapy Be More Helpful?

• Anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety, social anxiety) often respond well to CBT, exposure therapy, or CBT combined with mindfulness practices.

• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is strongly treated with exposure and response prevention, an offshoot of CBT.

• Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a classic indication for DBT, which targets emotional dysregulation, self-destructive urges, and interpersonal instability.

• Trauma, PTSD, or complex trauma often lead clinicians to integrate EMDR or trauma-informed CBT approaches.

• When a client has long-standing relational or emotional patterns, psychodynamic therapy can help uncover deeper roots of distress.

• When relational issues are central — such as conflict with family or interpersonal loss — interpersonal therapy may be the best fit.

Often, effective treatment is integrative, combining techniques from multiple modalities to fit the person’s unique needs.

How Therapy Helps People Understand and Grow

Across types, therapy aims to aid clients in:

1. Recognizing and challenging negative thoughts or automatic beliefs.

2. Gaining insight into the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

3. Building healthier coping skills to manage stress, regulate emotions, and tolerate difficulty.

4. Altering old interpersonal patterns to form more fulfilling relationships.

5. Reducing symptoms of anxiety disorders, OCD, BPD, depression, trauma, and more.

6. Replacing rigid, maladaptive patterns with more flexible, adaptive ones.

In a sense, therapy helps clients replace negative internal habits — whether they are thought patterns, emotional reactions, or interpersonal dynamics — with more supportive, mindful responses.

Tips on Choosing a Therapy Type

• Begin with your current priorities: symptom relief, emotional regulation, trauma processing, or relationship issues.

• Ask a therapist what modalities they use — many are trained in multiple approaches.

• Be open to changing or combining methods if one doesn’t feel like a good fit.

• Remember therapy is most effective when you spend time actively engaging — doing the homework, practicing skills, and reflecting between sessions.

  
  

Final Thoughts

Understanding the differences among therapy types empowers people to make informed choices about what may suit them best. While cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is often the cornerstone — working to replace negative thought patterns and rework behavioral responses — other therapies like DBT, EMDR, psychodynamic therapy, and interpersonal therapy each bring unique strengths.

Therapy is not one-size-fits-all. By learning about these types of therapy, you can advocate for yourself, engage more actively in the process, and partner with a therapist who uses approaches aligned with your goals. Over time, therapy can help shift how you relate to your thoughts and feelings, lighten burdens from anxiety disorders or OCD, and foster healthier ways of being in your relationships and with yourself. Call Positive Change Counseling Center today to get started.